Steps for Safety Around the Pool Brochure - Pool Safely

Help Prevent Drownings!
Here’s how:
Practice Supervision
• Never take your eyes off children in the water—
not for a minute! Always designate a “pool watcher.”
Install Barriers
• CPSC strongly recommends that all residential pools
have a 4-foot barrier, such as a fence with self-closing
and self-latching gates. If the house is the fourth side
of a barrier, secure doors with alarms that prevent
children from wandering into the pool area.
Avoid Entrapments
• Suction from a pool or spa’s drain can be so powerful
it can trap an adult underwater. Do not use a pool or
spa if there are broken or missing drain covers.
• Ask your pool operator if your pool or spa’s drains
are compliant with the Pool and Spa Safety Act.
Know Life-Saving Skills
• Teach your children how to swim
• Know CPR so you can help save a life if a water
emergency happens
• Understand the basics of life-saving so you can assist
in an emergency
Each year, thousands of American families
experience drownings and non-fatal
submersions, and entrapments. Pool Safely!
Are Your Kids Out of Sight?
Your greatest water safety assurance comes from
adopting and practicing as many safety steps as possible.
Adding an extra safety step around the water
can make all the difference. You can never know which
safety measure will save a life – until it does.
The CPSC estimates that each year nearly 300 children
younger than five drown in swimming pools and spas and
more than 3,200 children that age go to hospital emergency
rooms due to submersion injuries in pools and spas.
• Learn how to swim
• Know basic water safety skills, such as CPR
• Install fences and other barriers
• Use pool alarms and covers
Entrapment caused by powerful suction from a pool or
spa’s drain can trap a child or adult. Do not use a pool or
spa if there are broken or missing drain covers.
Report drain entrapments in pools and spas:
Call CPSC’s Hotline at:
(800) 638-2772
Email: info@cpsc.gov
For more information and resources for pool and
spa safety and the Pool and Spa Safety Act, visit:
www.PoolSafely.gov
Follow us on Twitter @poolsafely
CPSC Pub. 360
0610
Steps for Safety Around the Pool
The Pool and Spa Safety Act
A public education campaign by the
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Avoid Drain Entrapments!
Hair entanglement: hair can get caught in a faulty
drain cover
Limbs: arms, legs and fingers can become lodged in a
suction opening
Body: any body part that can cover a drain can be
held down by suction
Evisceration: sitting on a faulty drain can cause injuries
or disembowelment
Mechanical: jewelry or bathing suits can become
entangled in a faulty drain cover
Make Sure Your Children:
• Do not play or swim near drains or suction outlets,
especially in spas and shallow pools.
• Never enter a pool or spa that has a loose, broken or
missing drain cover.
If you see a broken or loose drain cover, immediately
notify a lifeguard and the pool/spa manager.
A pool or spa with a broken, loose or missing drain cover
should be closed immediately until repairs are made by
a licensed professional.
Children’s public wading pools, other pools designed
specifically for young children, and in-ground spas that
have flat drain grates and single main drain systems
pose the greatest risk of entrapment.
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act
(P&SSAct) was enacted to prevent the tragic and
hidden hazard of drain entrapments and eviscerations
in pools and spas.
Virginia Graeme Baker
In June 2002, seven-year-old Virginia
Graeme Baker died after becoming
stuck on a hot tub drain due to a
powerful suction force. The drain’s
suction was so powerful that it took
two adult males to pull her from the drain. Graeme was
a member of a community swim and dive team and had
been swimming unassisted since she was three years
old. After being found underwater by her twin sister,
Graeme’s mother, Nancy Baker, tried unsuccessfully to
pull Graeme off the drain. Mrs. Baker said Graeme appeared
to be attached to the bottom of the spa as if she
were tied or held down. The men who eventually freed
Graeme from the spa pulled so hard that the drain cover
broke from the force. Graeme died from drowning but
the real cause of her death was suction entrapment due
to a faulty drain cover.
The Pool and Spa Safety Act
As of December 19, 2008, all operating public pools
and spas must have drain covers that meet the ASME/
ANSI A112.19.8–2007 standard on every drain/grate. If
a pool has a single main drain (other than an unblockable
drain), or multiple drains less than 3 feet apart,
the operator must either disable the drain(s) or install
a second anti-entrapment device or system. This can
take the form of an automatic pump shut-off system,
gravity drainage system, Safety Vacuum Release System
(SVRS) or suction-limiting vent system.
New drain covers come in a variety of sizes and
shapes. For a list of cover manufacturers see
www.PoolSafely.gov.
Working with Professional Engineers and
Design Professionals
CPSC staff recommends contacting state or local officials
to determine who is qualified in your area. Experts
should be formally licensed or certified as a business
and carry some level of insurance or similar protection.
Pool and spa owners should have their facilities inspected by a licensed professional engineer and install P&SSAct
compliant covers. See www.PoolSafely.gov for a list of manufacturers of certified covers and other devices.